Hot cooked school meals, double fortified salt, cash benefits for pregnant women and urban low-cost eateries are all Tamil Nadu’s innovations. But, as the country observes the National Nutrition Week, Tamil Nadu despite having pioneered many nutrition initiatives in the country, is still grappling with its own challenges. The state’s nutrition indicators for women and children are a major cause for concern.

Consider this: Over 55% of women in TN aged between 15 and 49 years are anaemic — this means every second woman of ‘reproductive age’ is anaemic. Anemic mothers with undernutrition (14.6%) in turn affect the nutrition status of her children...................Read more